On August 8, 2018 it was announced via a Nintendo Direct stream that Simon Belmont and Richter Belmont, two iconic characters from Konami's Castlevania franchise, would appear as playable characters. Richter is considered as an "Echo" character, which is a cosmetic copy of another character (Simon), meaning both have the same moveset.

Due to the inclusion of all the above, Castlevania is the third-party series to feature the most content in any Smash Bros. game and the first one to present an Echo fighter (before the inclusion of Ken of the Street Fighter series a few months later).

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Super Smash Bros. is a fighting game starring characters from various video games (primarily Nintendo's own stable of games, although later games in the series have brought in guest fighters from other companies such as Konami, Capcom and Sega). In normal gameplay, two to eight players square off on stages usually consisting of several platforms.

The goal of the match is to knock the opposing fighters off the stage through the use of the character's own weapons and abilities or with weapons and items that appear randomly across the battlefield, such as swords, food, ray guns, bombs, hammers and Pokeballs. As fighters are hit, their damage level increases, causing them to be knocked away farther when hit by powerful weapons and/or "Smash Attacks" until they cannot recover to the edge of the stage, or are simply launched right off.

Each Belmont will come armed with the legendary Vampire Killer whip, which is a slow albeit longer weapon than any other that the rest of the fighters will wield in this game. They also use well-known sub-weapons such as the Axe (Neutral Special), Cross (Side Special) and Holy Water (Down Special), as well as some of Richter's characteristic moves such as the Uppercut (Up Special), Slide, Slide Jump and Tackle (Dash attack) for both characters. The Belmonts' "Final Smash" is the Grand Cross, which traps foes in a coffin before blasting them with said attack.

The main difference between Simon and Richter comes from the Holy Water attack. Simon's attack is fire-based, while Richter's is Aura-based (much like Lucario's attacks).

Simon and Richter are unlockable characters and must be defeated by the player before they become playable. They can be unlocked by different means:

by defeating them in the World of Light mode: Simon is located in the Light Shrine on the notheasternmost part of Map 1 (World of Light) and Richter is found in Dracula's Castle on the southwestern part of Map 2 (World of Dark)

by completing Classic mode (Simon and Richter are unlocked by completing Classic Mode as anyone in Link's unlock tree, in which Simon is the third character unlocked, while Richter is the seventh character in Link's unlock tree)

by completing VS mode matches (Simon is the 18th character unlocked, while Richter is the 35th character unlocked)

Each character has a special route in Classic Mode, featuring 6 battles against enemies, a special mini-game, and a final confrontation with a boss. Simon's route is called Smash-vania and features battle against monstrous and/or dark characters, mimicking a Castlevania adventure. Richter's, Smash Echoes, pits him against all Echo Characters from the game (himself being an Echo Fighter). Both routes end with a race minigame and a final duel with Dracula.

Death's Scythe appears in the game as an attacking item, with the ability to outright kill a fighter whose damage level is high enough.

Alucard appears as an "Assist Trophy", a secondary character who, when summoned by the titular item, will fight on the player's behalf for a short period of time. Alucard uses the Crissaegrim to hit opponents at short range, transforms into a bat to reach foes at long distance, and can dodge attacks by using Mist Form. Like other Assist characters, he can be attacked and KO'ed by opponents, but he is quite challenging.

The "Castlevania" stage is called Dracula's Castle. It is a revamped version of Dracula's Castle from its original Castlevania incarnation. Popular to the series, sticks will appear on the stage which can be broken in order to obtain useful items.

Classic bosses from the franchise also appear based on the two games both Belmonts originally come from: Castlevania and Castlevania: Rondo of Blood. As such, Medusa appears in her floating bust form as seen in her introductory appearance in the first game, and The Creature once again tags along with the Flea Man (Igor, who had not appeared in any game since his introduction back in 1986). A Mummy and a Werewolf also known to appear, as well as Carmilla in her floating mask incarnation from the same game (which in turn is based on her first appearance in Simon's Quest). Death also makes an appearance, as well as the shadows of Dracula and Kid Dracula. All enemies are only acting as cosmetics and do no attack players.

A larger and flat version of this stage appears when players confront Dracula.

Dracula appears twice in the game: as the zone boss of Dracula's Castle in the Adventure Mode World of Light (Map 2) and as a final boss in Classic Mode for Simon, Richter, Pac-Man, and Luigi. All encounters opens with a short cutscene of Dracula tossing aside a wine glass before standing up and teleporting onto the stage, similar to his battle with Richter in Symphony of the Night. Dracula can only be hurt in the head: attacks below this area do not harm him and cause a misty effect.

Bat Moon: A swarm attack where Dracula transforms in the form of several bats.

When defeated, Dracula refills his health bar and transforms into his second form. Contrary to other bosses, no health item is given to the player at the beginning of phase 2. In this second part, Dracula attacks include:

An electric blast

Fireballs

A claw attack

An earthquake attack

A player-seeking projectile attack

A jumping attack

Once his health bar is depleted, Dracula explodes and the player is awarded points (Classic mode) or rewards (Adventure Mode; including the two Dracula spirits).

The trailer starts with a castle shown in the rain. A hooded figure advances under the rain before opening the doors to a dark corridor. Someone is heard screaming deeper into the castle: it is Luigi who is fighting Mummies. After his equipment proves to be ineffective, Luigi runs away in a room featuring a statue. As Luigi thinks he's safe, the statue animates and reveals to be Medusa, who scares Luigi away. As he runs, Luigi trips and falls face to face with Death who rips his soul with his Scythe. As Death contemplates Luigi's soul, he takes a direct hit to his skull from a chain whip. The holder is the hooded figure who reveals to be Simon Belmont. Simon throws a Cross to Death before the trailer switches to gameplay footage.

Later, Simon is seen fighting Dracula and taking a hit from a flame pillar. As Simon is seen in a bad position on the ground, with a giant fireball coming right at him, another chain whip destroys the fireball. It is revealed Richter Belmont is the one protecting Simon, stating: "Begone! You don't belong in this world, monster!" before the trailer switches to gameplay again.

The trailer ends with Luigi's soul attempting to reposess his old body. He was about to do so when Carmilla appeared in the window next to him, laughing in a dangerous way. It immediately zooms out of the castle and stops at a full image of Dracula's castle. As it does this, Luigi's scream can be heard one last time.